Common problems make for common grief. In this lecture Stephen Johnson addresses many of the problems that come up for people, often with the user not even knowing what is going wrong. These issues are covered with a clarity and in a context so that their purpose and problem causing potential is understood and able to be applied to a photographer's workflow immediately.

Come join me to celebrate the holidays and the Twentieth Anniversary of my studio at the Pacifica Center for the Arts!

In mid-2004 we started building out three classrooms and big hallway on the old Sanchez Elementary School into what I envisioned as a first class gallery, digital classroom and working studio. By the time we had our Grand Opening that December, the transformation was complete and we have been running classes, lectures, exhibitions and creating decades of new work ever sense. Hundreds of students and thousands of visitors later, we are celebrating those 20 years this December.

I’m not sure when Marion and I first met, but we agree it was a long time ago. We had been friends for years when she invited me to apply to teach with her at Foothill College for a full-time photography instructor position. Although after a year into my time there, I came to the conclusion I did not want the job, Marion and I have remained friends for decades. I’ve always admired the directness and sensitivity of her photographs. Marion’s photographs were among the first I thought of when I decided to start my Guest Photographer Series.

Common problems make for common grief. In this lecture Stephen Johnson addresses many of the problems that come up for people, often with the user not even knowing what is going wrong. These issues are covered with a clarity and in a context so that their purpose and problem causing potential is understood and able to be applied to a photographer's workflow immediately.

This lecture explores the birth of the Urban Eden: San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park photographic project, and chronicles its evolution from seduction, to field trips, research, the first book mock-ups and now printing the exhibition.

Feedback on our work has proven critical to many of us involved in the arts. In this emerging age of digital photography, it is hard to find people knowledgeable in the technology and with a background and experience in the fine arts.

Ted Orland’s Old Favorites & New Discoveries exhibition runs from October 1 through November 15, 2024. Opening reception this Sunday October 6, 2024 from 1-4 pm. Ted will have signed copies of his book Art And Fear, the last of his Compendium of Photographic Truths poster and original 14x19 prints for the remarkable price of $100.

A seminar on copying/digitizing your film archives with your digital camera. We will do two film copies for each student.

Many of us were photographing and building our archives long before digital photography came along. Andany of us want to bring those older negatives and slides into the digital age for editing and printing. Film scanners are less and less available, and the high quality scanners were expensive. But you already have a digital camera that can be used to very effectively copy your film..

A lecture concentrating digital “sharpening” techniques from Photoshop to my explorations of Topaz Sharpen AI. This is a practical, down to earth lecture meant to enable students to create a greater illusion of focus in their digital images.

Why do some images move us, and others leave us cold? What makes a good photograph? What makes us pick up the camera at a particular moment? How do we work toward understanding our momentary visual curiosities and turn them into strong photographs? Why do we point the camera in one direction instead of another when the subject matter might be very similar? Why does a photographer take so long to make a photograph? What constitutes a beautiful print?

A lecture concentrating digital “sharpening” techniques from Photoshop to my explorations of Topaz Sharpen AI. This is a practical, down to earth lecture meant to enable students to create a greater illusion of focus in their digital images.

A Workshop Guiding Photographers Toward Rendering with Intent and Skill

A half-day virtual workshop concentrating on Raw processing and Photoshop as straightforward photo processing tools rather than instruments of image alteration. It is a great chance to explore digital photographic interpretation with Steve as he demonstrates his use of editing tools, executed with restraint and finesse. This class is designed to break down the steps to really understand the processes, and to work through difficult images.

Our photographic world has been shaped by what we’ve seen of others work, what we believed was possible, and what we’ve seen with our own eyes. Join Steve for this exploration of his influences and affections in this highly personal take on the history of photography through his eyes and photographic life experience.

This workshop is part of a series of classes concentrating on the tools within Photoshop critical to Photographers. It is a great chance to explore digital photographic editing with Steve. Help and demonstrations of his use of editing tools, executed with restraint and finesse, will benefit all of your digital photography work. This class is designed to break down the steps to really understand the processes, and to work through difficult images.

Our color perception of the world is a pervasive influence on our hearts, and our understanding of space and time. Making color photographs can build on those influences or merely record by habit and defaults. Controlling color after the fact can be a real technological challenge. This seminar explores the color we see, the way we record it, and the challenges of displaying, controlling and reproducing it.

Discussions will include making a photograph where color matters, interpreting that color from a Raw capture, fine-tuning that interpretation, building custom camera profiles (and editing them) plus building a color managed workflow from capture to printing.

A lecture concentrating on Raw processing. It is a great chance to explore digital photographic interpretation with Steve as he demonstrates his use of editing tools, executed with restraint and finesse. This class is designed to break down the steps to really understand the processes, and to work through difficult images. Topics Include paying attention to revealing actual data content, methods for pulling the detail out of that data and how that processing connects to Photoshop. Both faithful and interpretive decisions will be explored.

Feedback on our work has proven critical to many of us involved in the arts. In this emerging age of digital photography, it is hard to find people knowledgeable in the technology and with a background and experience in the fine arts.

What makes a good photograph? Why do we point the camera in one direction instead of another when the subject matter might be very similar? Why does a photographer take so damn long to make a photograph? These and other such "compositional" questions will be discussed in this lecture on photographic composition.

There will be no rules of composition propagated here, but explorations and suggestions. A good nuts and bolts evening for improving your photographs. A question and answer period will conclude the evening.